Time to continue my review of Pokemon Blue and the first generation of Pokemon games. If you haven’t read to the first part, please do so since one goes with the other.
Now we get to the most important aspect of any game; the game play. Pokemon mostly revolves around collecting new Pokemon and training them. To capture Pokemon you have to weaken them in battle, then use a Poke ball on them (if you’re successful it’ll stay in the ball). However, this isn’t the only way to get new Pokemon. Some are only obtained by “evolving” another Pokemon, either by training it to a high enough level, using an elemental stone on it or trading it. Some Pokemon you get under special condition (which is all I’ll say so you can have fun figuring it out). Finally, I return to the fact that not all Pokemon are present in one game; for example, Mankey, Growlithe and their evolved forms aren’t available in Pokemon Blue. This is where the trading comes in; find someone with a copy of Pokemon Red or Yellow and trade some other Pokemon for the ones you’re missing. When playing for the first time, it could actually be exciting to find new Pokemon and try to figure out how to get each one.
Though you can say half of the games are about finding all of the Pokemon, the other half would be fighting. Pokemon is a turn based RPG, meaning that you and the enemy Pokemon are given rounds in which you chose an action, including attacking. If you pick attack, whichever Pokemon has the best speed will attack first, damage will be given, and repeat until one Pokemon runs out of hit points. However, each Pokemon is classified with a type, such as Water, Psychic, Rock and a bunch other, so battling is not so simple. Attacks are also given types which cause that kind of damage to the opposing Pokemon. This is very important because each type has its strength and weaknesses, like an Electric attack will have a major advantage over Flying Pokemon, but is completely useless against ground types. Also, each Pokemon has a different move set and stats, so keep that in mind. To summarize, battling is more than just smacking each other around; there’s a fair bit of strategy and good judgment needed.
Sadly, for all the praising I’ve just done (in both parts) I now have to talk about the flaws, and the biggest one has to be the way the Pokemon look in this game. I’d elaborate more, but Adamant Ditto has already done it in a video on YouTube, and I got permission to play some of their best examples (Here's the Youtube Link: HERE) The game looks great otherwise, but that doesn’t matter since the majority of the game is spent looking at the other Pokemon, so THAT needs to be given the most attention.
I don’t have much time left, so I’ll sum up the rest of the complaints quickly. First, Pokemon not with you are kept in boxes, and these are just a pointless hassle with capacity limits. Next, each move has a certain limit to how many times you can use it, but the enemy Pokemon’s moves don’t, meaning you can run out of power, but they never will. Finally, there are balancing issues with some moves, such as hypnosis or wrap, because these stop a Pokemon from attacking, so someone can just keep using it.
Lots of people I know have these same complaints, so I don’t think I’m nit-picking: these annoyances shouldn’t have gotten in this game in the first place.
Getting to the end, the last thing I would like to mention is the music, which is catchy and of good quality. Other than that, I covered everything I always wanted to talk about. Pokemon started off great, and the flaws (which may just stick out BECAUSE the rest is so good) were fixed over time (including a remake of this generation). This game is the product of a great idea that was well pulled off and amazingly marketed. But as much as I like this game, I have reasons why I can’t give it a perfect score. So, let’s say I give Pokemon Blue for the Game Boy an unofficial 10, but an official 9 levels out of 10.
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